Lesson 26

                      There Are Two Sides to Everything

       Text A

    I had a most exasperating and frustrating experience with the hospital today: But Granny had it much worse. First she was the victim of an accident and then she was the suffering patient.

    She was out shopping early this morning, and was hardly a few scores of yards from our house when she was knocked down hy a bicycle. The rider was a reckiess young man who didn't even stop after the accident, but raced away as though an army was after him. It was a neighbour who recognized her and came to call me (both of my parents were out ).

When I heard the news, my heart jumped up to my mouth. I raced downstairs, two or three steps at a time and sprinted to the spot. I never ran so fast in my iife. There I saw a crowd of people. I elbowed my way in, and saw Granny sitting on the ground leaning against a tree, her face all swollen and her mouth bleeding. She was holding her left arm with her right hand. It must be a fracture judging rom the way it hurt her.

Some of the crowd were concerned and offering help and advice, but most were just curious onlookers.omeone managed to stop a passing car for us, and the driver kindly drove us to the nearest hospital. Then our ordeal began.

    Naturally I took her to the emergericy room first and expected immediate attention. But we had to wait for at least ten minutes before a doctor came over to us. I-Ie just took a brief look at her and said simply: "Go to the dental department. " "But doctor, aren't you going to give her a thorough check?" I asked "Don't worry, her life is not in danger. " Before I could say anything more , he was already out of sight.

    There was nothing for us to do but look for the dental department which took us a long time because it was on the third floor. There the dentist told us that we must register first, so I had to rush all the way down again to the ground floor, there only to find a long queue. I tried to jump the queue explaining it was an emergency case, "Go to the emergency room if it's an emergency case ! "

 I didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. Anyway I stood obediently at the end of the line and at last when my turn came I was given many forms to fill, some of which were very detailed and quite unnecessary I thought. After filling them I found I had to queue up once again to hand them in! By the time everything was finished and I rushed upstairs, I was happy to find the dentist had the decency not to wait for me before treating Granny. That was the first comforting thing after entering the hospital and I really felt grateful to the dentist. After putting several stitches to lips and gum, the dentist said "That's all. Now go and pay your bill. "

[1] [2] [3] 下一页